Microbial diversity in dry-cured Iberian ham: an approach to the concept of microbial terroir

Abstract

Microbial terroir has been scarcely studied in the dry-cured ham industry. The microbial population and ochratoxin A (OTA) contamination in two Spanish facilities located in a specific geographical region (Salamanca) with differences in the environmental conditions used for the ham processing were evaluated for establishing the microbial terroir. Differences between the levels of Gram-positive catalase-positive cocci (GCC+), lactic acid bacteria (LAB), yeasts and moulds were found at the processing stage (post-salting, drying and cellar) and facility levels. Such variations could be responsible for the development of different flavour profiles, which indicate their potential functionality for determining the microbial terroir in the artisan dry-cured Iberian ham industry, despite the fact that this work constitutes a preliminary study. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that the differences in the microbial population throughout the processing of both sampled facilities could directly impact on one of the main concerns of the meat industry from the food safety point of view consisting of the accumulation of OTA, since differences in its levels were detected between both checked facilities. These findings could lead to the enforcement of the terroir concept in artisan dry-cured Iberian ham elaboration, resulting in a value enhancement that might be reflected in economic and social positive results for the territory. Nevertheless, microbial terroir in the dry-cured Iberian ham must be further explored by the increase of the number of studied facilities.